Whatmore wants biomechanics at NCA

KARACHI - Pakistan team coach Dav Whatmore has started his mission to take Pakistan to one of the top Test playing nations as he suggested the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to establish a biomechanics lab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).The basic purpose of his suggestion to establish the scientific lab is to check not only illegal bowling actions but also the techniques of Pakistani batsmen, sources were quoted as saying by a website TheSportsEncounter.Sources said that Whatmore had asked the PCB authorities to install the biomechanics lab at the NCA. “Actually Whatmore is not a conventional coach rather he usually spends his time with video analyst. We can call him a scientific coach and he got worried when saw the stuff to be used in the biomechanics lab languishing in a store room,” sources added.It is important to mention here that the PCB had purchased biomechanics instruments during tenure of Naseem Ashraf which include over 16 cameras as well as other stuff and its value is more than Rs30 to Rs40 million.Sources stated: “Naseem wanted to install this mega project and made an infrastructure for this by booking NCA’s indoor cricket practice area and painting its roof and walls with black colours. But as soon as Naseem left the office, the incoming PCB chief Ijaz Butt halted the project.”If the PCB makes its biomechanics lab v, then it would become only the third cricket board to have such a scientific lab installed other than Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa. Sources said the coaches can fully utilise this lab to work on the bowlers’ actions and the discrepancies in their bowling styles. Moreover, they can also gauge the reasons why their speed is not augmenting, they added.The sources mentioned that the biomechanics lab will also prove beneficial to the batsman as coaches can help them better their techniques by showing them their videos and comparing it with the top batsmen in the world, thus showing the difference and pinpointing the areas to work on.Now the ball is in PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf’s court to decide whether this project is going to live or not. “If Zaka says yes to the biomechanics lab, then it would require four to five months to get installed and become fully operational.”Sources said: “If Pakistan makes it operational then other Asian region countries including India can send their cricketers to get the bowling actions of their bowlers checked in this lab”.